Kang Hyuk sheds ‘acting’ label to take over as KOGAS’s official leader
Men’s professional basketball team Daegu KOGAS has named Kang Hyuk, who has led the team since the 2023-2024 season, as its acting head coach.
“Coach Kang Hyuk maximized the strengths of the squad, which was considered the weakest before the start of the season, by showing soft leadership and excellent leadership,” KOGAS said on the 26th, adding that it was highly appreciated that the team showed a cohesive performance with various tactics.
KOGAS entered the KBL with the acquisition of the Incheon Electronic Land Basketball Team ahead of the 2022-2023 season. After firing head coach Yoo Yoo-hoon at the end of the 2022-2023 season, the team appointed Kang Hyuk as acting head coach to prepare for the 2023-2024 season.
KOGAS has only used up 69.2 percent of the KBL’s 2.8 billion won ($1.937 billion) salary cap for the 2023-2024 season. As of August last year, it was the only club in the league with a total salary cap of no more than 2 billion won.
Despite the lack of investment, KOGAS has continued to improve under Kang Hyuk’s leadership. As of Nov. 26, the team is in seventh place in the regular season with 17 wins and 26 losses. The team is 6.5 games behind sixth-place Ulsan Hyundai Mobis, so it’s not easy to qualify for the six-team playoffs, but it’s a remarkable turnaround considering the team was initially labeled as a bottom-feeder.
“I’m grateful to the club for believing in us. “We will finish the rest of the season well,” he said, “and next season, we will make up for what we lacked in detail to create a team that fans and players can enjoy. We will do our best to attract more fans to our home stadium in Daegu.”
Kang Hyuk was born in 1976 and attended Osan Middle School, Samil Commercial High School, and Kyung Hee University before joining the Seoul Samsung in the first round (5th overall) of the 1999 KBL Draft.
Although Kang Hyuk did not come from a star player background, he made his mark in the KBL with his excellent defense and high basketball intelligence. He was named to the Defensive Five for four consecutive seasons starting in 2003-2004, and was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Championship Finals in 2005-2006.
After finishing his playing career with Incheon E-Land, the predecessor organization of KOGAS, in 2013, Kang joined the KOGAS coaching staff as head coach of Samil 카지노 Sanggo and Changwon LG before being promoted to head coach.
He won the Most Valuable Player award in the 2000-2001 season after helping Seoul Samsung win the championship. During his military service with the Korean Armed Forces Athletic Corps (Commerce), he helped the team win the 2001-2002 Basketball Grand Prix.
The 2005-2006 season was Kang Hyuk’s prime. After leading Samsung to a second-place finish in the regular season, he went on a tear in the best-of-four playoffs and the championship game. He averaged 17.3 points and 6.5 assists in the four-game championship series against the Ulsan Hyundai Mobis, and was named MVP of the championship series.
Kang Hyuk was later traded to the Incheon Electronic Land before the 2011-2012 season, where he played until 2013. After retiring, he coached his alma mater Samil Commercial High School and Changwon LG from 2017 before returning to the Incheon Electronic Land in 2020.